If It's Meant to Be, You and Me
by RealMe07
Summary: Katherine has one wish...to be a mother. When it hasn't happened yet, her husband finds a way for her to see what he sees in the best way he knows how.


**A/N: So I haven't ever done a Newsies fic before and have just recently become unhealthily obsessed with the show. Let's give a Jackrine fic a shot, huh? Enjoy! Review, favorite, and follow! I'd love to get some requests for more one shots I can do in the future! :)**

Katherine Kelly looked at her husband from across the room. His body was hunched over, his cap nearly falling off the top of his head as he focused on sketching another drawing. His brows furrowed with concentration and he occasionally would bite his lip as he struggled to determine where his pencil would mark next. A small smile graced her pink lips as she watched him work ever so silently; nearly forgetting the roast she had in the oven. Hurriedly, she picked up her skirts and sprinted over to the hot oven, pulling out the dish she had saved from another burnt dinner. Katherine had never been the best cook, her and Jack knew that full well, but she had learned to enjoy cooking over their last two, almost three now, years of marriage. She had burnt everything and barely knew how to boil water the first six months of their joined union, but had eventually gotten advice and more cookbooks until the burnt meals and tears had slowly faded away.

"Jack," Her husband looked up at her, barely noticing the hours that had passed since he picked up his pencil and paper. "Dinner's ready." She smiled, placing the various plates and bowls on the table. A beef roast lay in the middle of the small table, diced and seasoned carrots and potatoes sat beside it in a bowl, and a few slices of buttered bread sat on a small tray beside it all.

"Already? You's just started it?" Jack replied, head cocked to one side as he got up off the couch, leaving his work and cap on the coffee table.

"No, Jack." Katherine smiled, a chuckle lacing her words. "You just got lost in your work again."

Jack sat down at his usual seat, hopping out of it in a rush before Katherine sat down. She gave him an odd look before rolling her eyes as he jokingly pulled out her chair for her, sticking his arm out as an usher for her to be seated. "You's married quite dah gentleman." He winked at her, kissing her hand once she'd sat down, pushing in the chair.

"I sure did, Mr. Kelly." She smiled at him from across the little wooden table.

"And I married a beautiful reporta' who can cook some great meals." He smirked at her before saying, "Well, nows she can." He laughed with his wife, her groomed eyebrow rising as if she was seeing him as that cheeky boy again.

"I finally figured out this wifely duties thing. Mostly." She smirked at him from across the table. Dinner commenced in the Kelly household, husband and wife placing food on their plate and beginning to eat as they spoke about their group of boys and work.

"This is a pretty big meal, Ace. Last time you made it we's had Crutchie and dah boys ova?" Jack put another forkful of roast in his mouth and looked at his suddenly quiet wife. "I'm not complainin'…jus' wonderin'." He shrugged his shoulders, feeling bad for suddenly bringing it up.

Katherine looked up from her plate of food and smiled gently at her husband. "I know you aren't. You never have. Not even when you choked down all that burnt food." She laughed at the memories of bad cooking with him.

"Then why'd you's get all like dat, Ace?" He questioned further, placing his fork on the table, more interested in his wife than his food.

"I was just thinking." Was all his usually talkative wife said.

"Katherine…" Jack said slowly in a concerned voice. "Was' goin' on wit' you?"

"Jack it's nothing…" She began, her eyes finally meeting his. "Jack Kelly." She said firmly, placing her silverware on the table and standing up, walking to his side and kneeling down next to him. "I love being your wife. I really do. And I've loved being your wife for two, nearly three years. But…there comes a time when I don't want to just cook for two anymore. And I don't want to spend time in the park with you sketching expectant mothers and their spouses. I…I want that."

"Ace, are you saying you's…pregnant?" Jack said, eyes wide. He stood up out of his chair, pulling his wife off the floor and into a tight embrace. "Katherine, this is perfect!" He said cheerfully, kissing her forehead and looking into her still downcast eyes. "Was' the matta?"

"I'm not pregnant, Jack." She smiled gently up at the confused man, kissing his wrist, his hands cupping her face. "But I want to be. I want to have a baby with you. And isn't it about time? We've been married for a while now. And I know we both didn't grow up with the best of parents, but I know we could wonderful parents and I-"

"Hey! Ace!" Jack cried, throwing his head back with laughter. "You don't need ta explain or try and convince me to want a kid with you. I want a baby, too, Ace."

"You do?" Katherine asked, her face breaking out into a wide smile as he nodded. She pulled his lips to hers and slowly and passionately kissed her husband. "I love you." She said as held her to his strong chest.

"And I love you." He said, kissing the top of her dark curls.

 **Eight months later…**

"Katherine, jus' calm down." Jack said with frustration, trying to be calm for his wife's sake.

"I can't, Jack! It's been eight months! _Eight months!_ " Katherine said with tears in her big brown eyes. "This usually takes other couples two months at most! Why is it taking me so long? What if I can't do the one thing a woman is supposed to be able to do?"

"Ace…c'mere." Jack said as his voice broke. He saw the pain in his wife's broken face and held her closely against his chest. He felt his shirt growing wet with her tears and felt some prickling in his own eyes. "It'll happen, baby, jus' wait 'n see."

"And what if it doesn't?" He heard her mumble between sniffles. He kissed to top of her hair gently running soothing circles on her back as he tried to calm her down. Katherine had just gotten her period for what seemed like the hundredth time since they began to try for a baby. She thought it was hopeless to keep trying and it killed him.

"Then we'll find a way to be happy jus' the two of us. Like before." He smiled at her, cupping her face and making her look at him. She moves her hands to viciously wipe away the tears that stained her rosy cheeks and sniffled yet again.

"I want to be a mother." She said quietly, a broken voice cracking once again into tears. She collapsed onto the floor and Jack's heart broke even more. He swooped her off the floor and into his solid arms, carrying her into their room and ever so gently laying her on their shared bed. She nearly instantly hugged the pillow, her tears falling onto the white pillow case, her makeup running and becoming a mess, not that she cared at that moment.

"I…I don't know hows ta help, Ace. I just don't." He said helplessly as he sat on the edge of their bed, hands covering his face as he felt a few hot tears slip out of the corner of his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Jack." She said, sitting up and wiping her eyes. "I'm making you feel awful. I shouldn't be." She said, her small arms coming around his torso and rubbing his chest, her face resting in the crook of his neck.

"What if 's me?" He barely croaked out between his hands. Katherine burst into tears again once he said those words, her heart breaking, guilt overcoming her as she realized what she'd done.

"No…Oh, Jack I'm so sorry! This is all my fault. It's not yours, please baby, don't cry." She begged him, rarely seeing her husband cry. She kissed his shoulder and hugged him tighter than before. "I'm so sorry."

"Why's you sorry?" He asked, his tears slowly fading. He felt like such a wimp, crying like his wife. "You didn't do nothin'."

"I didn't mean to blame you. It's not you…Jack, I'm so sorry." Katherine said, moving his hands from his face. "I know you're thinking you're being a wimp for crying." She pouted, kissing his wet cheeks. "But you aren't a wimp. And don't blame yourself."

"You's doin' the same thing." He pointed out, kissing her warm hand.

"Then let's promise we'll stop blaming ourselves." She suggests, looking into his eyes as he moves his head to turn towards her. "Deal?" She spits into her hand and holds it out to him.

"Deal." He nearly smiles at their old gesture. He, too spits in his hand, shaking her small one and watching her grimace at the spit that now rested on her hand. "Now go wash your hands. I know you wants ta."

"I love you, Mr. Kelly." She says as she kisses his cheek before running off to the sink to wash off her slimy hands.

"And I love you, Mrs. Kelly." He says back, watching her as she washes her hands and looks at her tear-stained reflection in the mirror. She begins to reach for her makeup and instantly begins to powder her face again, fixing the mess she made. Jack smiles at his wife's actions and stands up, reaching for his sketchbook and pencil.

 **Later that night…**

"Are you coming to bed soon, Jack?" Katherine asks sleepily, her nightgown on and hair loose and flowing around her shoulders and down her back. He nodded and motioned for her to go lie down. She assumed he'd be there in a bit.

It'd been nearly ten minutes since Katherine went to bed and Jack was still up, nearly finishing his sketch. Once he'd placed the finishing touched on it he folded it up and placed it on the edge of Katherine's nightstand, smiling as he noticed she had already fallen asleep. They both had a tiring day, and he was glad she was asleep. He changed and slipped under the covers, falling asleep beside her.

The next morning Katherine woke up before Jack, as usual, her being the early riser and him being the one to never want to wake up. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, looking at her nightstand and seeing a piece of paper. Curiously she picked it up and gasped as she realized what her husband had been so furiously working on last night, tears pricking at her eyes.

The sketch was simple, really, much simpler than the sketches Jack usually drew. But this sketch had a great deal of detail in the small amount of space it took up. It was a picture of Katherine, a very pregnant Katherine lying in a rocking chair, holding her stomach. That was all. Usually he would draw more of a picture, never just a figure, but she figured that was all he wanted her to see. At the top of the paper she read _'It will happen someday'_ In Jack's messy, hurried handwriting.

Katherine looked down at her flat stomach, a hand moving up to touch the place of her body she so desperately wanted to change, and realized her husband was right and she was wrong. If it was meant to be, it would happen. If not, they'd be happy. Just the two of them.


End file.
